Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Cosmic Hum]

Many threads have discussed, and continue to discuss visa concerns.

However, this thread will be entirely dedicated to finding individuals who have an F2, or more importantly the elusive F5 visa, and achieved this without marriage or family ties in Korea.

A few posters have stated they know of people who have done this...particularly the F2 visa.
Yet, in all the hundreds, if not thousands of threads and posts on visas, not one single person has come forward and claimed this personally.
If you are one such person, your information would be more than greatly appreciated.

If you have an F2 or F5 visa, and have this based on merit, rather than family, would you please come forward and share your knowledge on how this came to being.

If you know anyone who has this visa, could you please share their stories, or better yet, get them to post the details here.
Again, any relevant information regarding the acquisition of the F5 visa while remaining single would be of the greatest value to the expat community here in Korea.

[hwarangi]

To get an F-5 with no family ties you need to have worked for the same company for 5 consecutive years and be earning 3x the average Korean salary (calculated by per capita GDP of the previous year).

[winterwawa]

[The Cosmic Hum]

[hwarangi]

[bluelake]

I mentioned in different threads about my colleague who is unmarried and has an F-2; as the OP has talked with me in at least one of those threads, I am sure my friend is one of the people he is referring to. I have seen my friend's ARC, so I can, unequivocally, state the story is true, although I would have believed him even without seeing it.

I don't know whether or not he will come here to tell his story, but I will ask him in any case.

[winterwawa]

[bluelake]

[Scouse Mouse]

One AFEK member has one. He seems more willing to discuss it there. If I were him, there is no way I would be posting my details here for all to see

Now... the exact visa you are asking about is the F-2-5.

There are just 38 of them in Korea. That is 0.0038% of all foreigners (and I don't mean English teachers, I mean foreigners). Good luck finding one

[winterwawa]

I have never heard of an F2-5. F2-1, F5, but never F2-5. At any rate I would really like to talk to these people if possible. If Scouse Mouse and Bluelake could PM me with information on how to contact these two people, I would greatly appreciate it. I am also curious about the number of 38 people who have these VISA. From where did you get the number 38. Are there public statistics somewhere?

One last request, can someone please post a link to the AFEK homepage?

[Scouse Mouse]

www.afek.info

The stats are from an excel sheet of Immi stats that I downloaded from somewhere or other. I can't remember where, but the F-2-5 info is as follows:



기타장기 (F-2-5)
Total: 38
Male: 19
Female: 19

Asian: (4 male, 8 female)
- Ethnic Korean Chinese (1 male, 1 female)
- Chinese (2 female)
- Filipino (1 male)
- Japanese (1 male, 2 female)
- Taiwanese (3 female)
- Indian (1 male)

North American (5 male, 2 female)
- American (5 male)
- Canadian (2 female)

South American (2 male)
- Mexican (2 male)

European (8 male, 9 female)
- British (1 male)
- French (1 male, 2 female)
- German (2 female)
- Ethnic Korean Russians (1 female)
- Italian (2 male)
- Swiss (2 female)
- Spanish (1 male, 1 female)
- Belgian (1 male, 1 female)
- Belarusian (2 male)

If you want the full spreadsheet (all in Korean) PM me your email address. I don't have a source on it though as I can't remember where it came from.

As you can see... these visas are rare. Of the 'Big 7', there are just 8 visas, and I bet most of them are not given to English Teachers.

[The Cosmic Hum]

[The Cosmic Hum]

[Scouse Mouse]

I am not sure if the F-2-5 can be upgraded to F5. The only way I know of to get the F5 is by marriage or by investing.

There is a lot of dud info out there about language requirements, residency requirements, financial requirements, etc, so I can understand the reluctance of people to believe all that they have heard, but so far, all evidence does point to the F5 only being available to those who invest or marry.

One thing I wonder about... one of the requirements for the F-2-5 seems to be that a person needs to be at a single employer whilst in Korea. So... does this mean that they would not get a renewal if they change jobs?

If not, the F-2-5 may not allow the freedoms some hope. Sure, you can get a second job, but changing your main job may see you downgraded.

[winterwawa]